I D P T O MY FR EN D AN U P I L, J F A N K B O T U M E . R , who se inter est in a n d uic k a re c iation o f the v o c al art a s tau ht ' pp , g b the N ea ol itan m asters hav e ev er been assu red m e y p , , I offer this l ittl e c omm entar on that art y , in the fam iliar form of lec ture . VI N C EN ZO C I RI LLO . ST N MA . M r 1 B O O , SS , a c h, 882 . T HE NEAPOLIT AN SCHOOL. T H E of e flu c tu art singing, lik all arts , has had its a t io n s ; and at some periods of its history it has fl h fl ouris ed, as it has decayed at others , in uenced r by its political and social su roundings , which were sometimes favorable and sometimes adverse . There have been periods in the past when t he courts of Europe assisted the arts by their gen er ous patronage and favor, and at those periods we of i a find the art singing at its height . The most mous singers were then honored by lucrative posi r tions at court . Fo instance, the court of Rome formerly had as its private singers many famous W a s artists , of whom perhaps the greatest Pales trina . It is not my intention to give in this lecture an of historical sketch the art and its artists , but to sum mariz e in a general way the principles which I . learned as a pupil , and which have been tested by an experience in teaching and singing that has s d o already la te a quarter f a century . 6 I sha ll m speak of yteachers , and of the method of instruction which was and is adopted by the of Royal College Music at Naples , where the cele br a t ed SO r a no C r e sc e n tin i male p , , after an illustrious c the of areer in principal theatres Europe , estab lished old in his age his school of singing . His ‘ r worthy successo was his most faithful pupil , my r . beloved teache , Alessandro Busti o n e - im It would be a tedious task, and well nigh possible, to enumerate the many famous singers who o have sprung fr m this school ; but I will mention , a ssm Labl a c he o f in p g , the great , who was a pupil n tin i C r e sc e . T his school is based upon the transmitted teach ing and experience of a line of teachers which ex r tends back for mo e than three hundred years . It passed by the living voice from teacher to pupil , g a ther m g l n its descent the accumulated traditions i of . many generations In th“is way it was acqu red “ “ C r e sc e n t in i by , in this way it was taught to Busti , and so it came to me . In opposition to this manner of acquiring the art of o f singing from the living voice the t eacher, we have in modern times an innumerable number of “ ' written methods 'so called); and Busti , in the of last years of his life, said that the crowd methods , which began then to make their appearance for the first time , would be for the art of singing so many tongues , so many dialects , which he predicted would r Of cause in a short time another towe Babel , a o of n r . cha s of ideas , pri ciples , of ules , of hobbies I o f can bear witness to the fulfilment this prophecy . 1 8 2 t o When I first came to this country, in 7 , assume the professorship o f singing at the Natio n al College of Music in Boston , I hoped and expected to fi n d a virgin soil ready to receive the seeds which I brought with me from Italy, and to bring for t the h true fruit . What , then , was my astonish o n Oli ver D it so n ment , entering the store Of Messrs . C O . , to read , in large letters , the two words “ ' V I C E - B U I L D I N G O . As I understood English very a t imperfectly that time, I asked my friend , Mr . W ho Charles R . Hayden , was showing me the place, f the meaning o those two words . He answered of that , although a native this country and a good si n ifi American , he could not possibly give me the g f cation o the sentence . This bright answer first of of directed my attention to the army methodists , o f t he m innovators , of reformators , of builders hu an of thiS ' c o n t r voice, which u y is even fuller than Europe . Seeing this , and remembering the wise of prophecy my teacher, Busti , I decided, after a of year teaching in the College, to abandon my posi ‘ - a tion , and as private teacher to present my ideas, which were in direct Opposition to the prevailing current ; a nd from that time to the present 'a period 8 of ten years)I have taught what I understood to be the true school , with results which I think have been satisfactory to my pupils . Without attempti n g to discuss or criticise the of ideas my colleagues and contemporaries , I will endeavor to explain the principles which I have learned from my teachers and acquired during my experience in teaching . It is impossible in Italy to teach any art by a n o t written method, because the Italian mind is sci t ifi e n c . , but artistic It sees the beautiful intuitively, it does not reason it out . In this respect , the Ital r ians differ from all othe races , even from the Span L ish and French , who have the same atin blood, and belong to the same family . Here , I may Observe that these two races have no school of their own . Their famous singers studied in Italy and sang Ital ian operas , although they could never rival the Ital l a n sm er s o o g , wh were always the most fam us in the world . We will not compare the different races in respect to their musical ability, for comparisons are always odious ; but it may be said that the intuitive school of u teaching ceases with the Italians , to whom m sic is a second nature , and all other races have to get he a r t into t mysteries of the step by step . o f I have Observed, since the very beginning my s t experien c e a a teacher in this country , hat there 9 is an instinct in“the American people which makes them ask the why of everything new that is taught them , particularly when they are studying a n a r t . It seems as though they wished to reduce all beauty to theory and rules ; but they are mis Old taken, for science is not art , and the masters h ' t t e . taugh art in two words , namely, Imitate me of z This was the school Nu ar, given to his pupils ; of o this was the school Porpora, and als the school that made Michelangelo , Raffaello , Benvenuto Cel lini, and many others . But what can b“e done with a pupil who asks at the first lesson ' What is your method of breath '' ing D o you want me to breathefrom the dia phr a g m or from my intercostal muscles or from my “ ' ' ' H o w abdomen What is yo ur method “long does it take to become a perfect singer ' What ’ do yo u call my voice To what celebrated artist s '' voice can mine be compared D o you teach the ' sol oratorio voice I mean that broad voice , rather '' “ em n and pompous H ow long shall yo u require me to practise every day f ’ And many other ques of tions the same kind . Some of the most important of these I will e n d e a v o r to answer of ' Speaking the art of breathing , the celebrated of he Romani , Florence, used to say that to whom n ature ha s r efused the gift of breathing ha s no I O x o l remedy e cept to die, and “ask for somebody t bury ' r - him . I say to my pupils , B eathe naturally, with i o ut any straining of the diaphragm in holding and ' ' ' emitting the breath already stored in the Those who have naturally a weak physical c on stit u tion must gradually gain strength by practising five or r the ten minutes at first , epeating this at utmost d a no more than four times a y . In fact , the pro fessio n a l singer never extends his practice beyond t o thirty minutes a a time . This system is the ne a ll generally adopted by Italian singers , and is the r o r one I ecommend t my pupils . It is folly to p e tend to set any definite length of time for the com pl ete development of the voice ; for it is n ot the or r teacher the pupil who decides this , but the o ganic x conditions of the laryn , the lungs , the diaphragm , o r and in short f all the vital fo ces of the body .